Turning somber symbols of conformity into diverse expressions of our hope, diversity, and collective resolve to build a more just, democratic and peaceful world!

Transforming Umbrellas into Peace Parasols

Umbrellas protect us. We cling to them and feel more secure against hard to predict changes in the outside world.

But umbrellas also isolate us. We lower them for protection as we march grimly through the storm, but this makes it more difficult to see each other and the way ahead.

The Peace Parasol Project uses paint and our collective imagination to transform plain black umbrellas –somber symbols of fear and isolating conformity—into peace parasols--expressions of hope, diversity, and our right and responsibility not to remain silent in the face of violence. As a public, we assemble people’s individual creations into a larger construction that reflects our determination to resist the politics of fear and keep working together to pursue liberty and justice for all.

Germination of the First Peace Parasol

I began painting my first peace parasol (the classic model with large peace sign on top) at night under a spotlight outside an Alexandria, Virginia apartment complex. It was October 2002 during the build-up to the Iraq war. I suddenly imagined myself in the cross hairs of the sniper that was terrorizing the area. I imagined them hesitating to pull the trigger when they saw what I was creating. This may be an apt metaphor for how the peace and justice movement may help end the cycle of violence.

I was inspired to add the sunflower the next morning when I drove past a yard full of them on the way back to Raleigh for the first of many “Honk for Peace” rallies (the resident was glad for me to harvest a carload to share once there). The sunflower is a natural symbol of faith, hope and renewable energy, for its face turns to follow the path of the sun, even under the most threatening skies. It also symbolizes democratic solidarity for it is actually composed of many flowers growing in organic harmony. It contrasts with the fascist symbol of a bundle of dead brittle sticks—strongly bound from the outside by fear, and easily set ablaze.

The Jerusalem Artichoke-- a wild sunflower that grows wild in many places and is condemned by some as an “invasive species”—reminds us of the city where people of diverse faiths lived in relative harmony before war was fomented by those lusting for oil. It is also a reminder of the promise of building a sustainable world economy for it efficiently produces a nutritious tuber, seeds for oil, fiber for textiles, and fertilizer or fuel.

Help The Peace Parasol Project Grow in Your Community!

We invite groups and individuals to help the Peace Parasol Project grow by working with us to host a peace parasol painting in your community along with your civic group, school, and/or house of faith. We can work with you to incorporate the Peace Parasol Painting into an age-appropriate program that may help raise awareness about inter-group conflict, educate about the importance of symbols in the process of individual and group identity formation, and devise a publicly assembled symbolic artwork that helps community solidarity.

Contact us if you are interested in educational programming, or social research and documentary efforts being developed in conjunction with the project.

Also let us know if you are interested in ordering custom-painted peace parasols for your organization to distribute. This is another way to raise funds for your organization, swell your ranks, and make popular support for peace more visible! Ideally, everyone would paint their own, but every new peace parasol that goes out in the world helps break the illusion that the people will accept a state of endless war!

Public Assembly, named after one of the five freedoms in the First Amendment, is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to involving children and adults in public arts activities to promote non-violence and civil liberties. The Peace Parasol Project has involved hundreds of youth and adults in painting somber black umbrellas into popular symbols of hope for peace and justice. The project has been growing with activities at large public events in Washington D.C., New York City and numerous venues around the Triangle.

Other current project’s are the “Election Correction” campaign sign recycling Project, The “Trucking for Peace” moving billboard project, and the “Twin Towers of Democracy / City on a Hill” cardboard monument project. This latter project is involving the public in creating their own historical monuments with cardboard boxes to educate ourselves about the history of the struggle for peace and civil liberties, and provoke a more vital public dialogue about what needs to be changed about America to “Fulfill the Promise” as well as what is worth “Preserving and Protecting.“